tiktok pilots new 'sleep reminder' feature
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you can switch your phone to a warmer light before bed. but does that acutally improve your sleep?
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tiktok is piloting a new sleep reminder feature, likely in response to concerns the attention-grabbing nature of the app is keeping users from getting to bed. the new feature joins dozens of other sleep and blue light friendly features targeting this critical issue.
as awareness of the importance of sleep on our physical and mental health grows, we have been inundated with tricks and tips to help us catch up on those critical zzz’s. from what you put on your body to what you put in your mouth, it seems that everyone wants to help us in our quest for quality sleep — including big technology companies.
the new feature is being tested on a limited number of tiktok profiles, located under the “screen time” selection in the settings menu, according to techcrunch. users are able to select what time they want the app to remind them to close it and head to bed. the app will also mute push notifications for seven hours after this time.
this new feature joins a series of other updates designed to help users manage their time better on the app and get some sleep — it already snoozes nighttime notifications for users 17 and under.
while the feature may help snap some users out of a late-night spiral, experts explain the notification should be set for well ahead of the user’s actual bed time. for a good night’s sleep, it’s important to unplug at least 15 to 20 minutes before going to bed.
taking the phone to bed is recipe for a poor night’s sleep — blue light or not
many apps are trying novel ways to help users get a better night’s sleep — from reducing blue light to setting bedtime notifications. however, experts explain the only really effective way to get ready for bed is to disconnect for a period of time before you hit the pillow.
take the iphone’s night shift mode, for example, a function that reduces the blue light emitted by your phone or tablet’s display, shifting it to a more subdued, warmer light. the idea is to cut down on the amount of blue light that reaches our eyes since research has shown that it can impact our sleep by disrupting the melatonin production in our bodies. and because we rely on melatonin to signal when it is time to start counting sheep, it is thought the light from our phones (and computers and tablets and tvs) can confuse our bodies, leading to a night of fraught sleep.
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like everything fun in life, however, the connection between using your phone at bedtime and difficulty falling asleep isn’t as simple as cellphone marketers would have you believe. a study from brigham young university found participants who used the night shift mode still had poorer nights’ sleep when compared to adults who stopped using their phone altogether before bed.
annie vallières, a professor of psychology at université laval and member of the canadian sleep society, explains that it’s not just quality of light that impacts our sleep. distracting ourselves from sleep when it’s time to hit the hay can also have a major impact on when — and how well — we snooze.
“insomnia, or poor sleep, is known to be induced by being in [your] own bed and/or bedroom doing other things than sleeping,” vallières says in an email. “ … the phone use might physiologically or emotionally activate the person in bed which is known to interfere with sleep and cause insomnia.”
vallières also notes that what the person is doing in bed on their phone will also influence the how soon they get to sleep, for example, watching an entertaining video or doom-scrolling twitter news.
dr. atul khullar, medical director of the northern alberta sleep clinic and associate clinical professor of the university of alberta, also stresses that while there may be some small effect in changing the type of light that comes out of our screens, it’s the behaviours right before we go to sleep that will have a greater impact.
“definitely there is something that if you get more light in the evening of a certain spectrum, it will suppress your melatonin and keep you awake,” says khullar. “but that’s mostly daylight. the reduction in that light probably has to be greater than the amount night shift does. [it] doesn’t subsume the fact that having your phone in the bed is way worse.”
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sleepless in the north
while we would all love to believe that we are of the “sleepless elite,” who only require a few hours each night, odds are that we need a solid six to eight hours of sleep each and every night for a host of reasons. recently, university of british columbia researchers found that individuals who don’t get enough sleep may be more emotional, stressed, and have trouble finding pleasure in the good things in life. a good sleep schedule is also reportedly important for a satisfying sex life.
difficulty sleeping is not uncommon in canada, where approximately half of us report trouble getting or staying asleep, with about thirty per cent revealing they have trouble staying awake during the day.
factors that seem to influence sleeping troubles include being sedentary for more than four hours during the day, chronic stress and boredom — all of which are in large supply during this pandemic.
recommendations for making it to dreamtown every night include keeping yourself on a schedule. go to bed and wake up at the same time, even on weekends; avoid working in bed; and develop a bed time ritual — like taking a bath or journaling at the end of the night — that signals it’s time for your body to slow down.
khullar also recommends that anyone having trouble sleeping make a point of switching off their phones at least 15 to 20 minutes before bed, and reduce temptation to check the phone throughout the night by keeping it away from the bed or bedroom.
“the best option is to just simply not use a lot of this stuff, at least 15-20 minutes before bed,” he says. “an alarm clock is 10 bucks.”
update: this article is an update on a story previously published 2021-05-18
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